Need doctors at shelters in twin cities: PIL in Telangana High Court

HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court will hear a PIL that seeks directions from the government to send doctors to temporary shelters set up in Hyderabad and Secunderabad, on Wednesday. The PIL seeks to provide medical facilities to the inmates who are ill, and to conduct COVID-19 diagnostic tests on them. It also sought court directions for having required quarantine measures at each of the shelters, and to increase number of shelters to maintain social distancing.

The suo moto PIL is based on a letter addressed to Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan by advocate Vasudha Nagaraj . The advocate, in his letter, stated that the absence of Covid screening and medical facilities at these shelters may lead to the spread of Covid. He stated that as more than 200 inmates are sheltered in each shelter, there is an urgent need of medical attention to the inmates. Besides, there is an urgent need of screening the entry and exit gates for these shelters, which are more than eight in number.

Most of the occupants of these shelters are homeless people who were lying on the roads in the vicinity of Gandhi Hospital, women discharged after pregnancies with their new born children, patients discharged after surgeries along with their attenders, beggars and migrant workers. Women who had just delivered and those who had undergone an orthopaedic surgery were unable to sit on the ground, the advocate stated in his PIL. The staff at the shelter reported that these two women were sitting on chairs throughout the night as they could not lie on the floor. So was the case with the men who had undergone orthopaedic and other surgeries.

The staff manning the shelter informed that patients suffering with HIV, tuberculosis and possibly Covid-19 were all put in the same room without any policy of isolation, she noted. Secretary to Ministry of Medical and Health, State Chief Secretary, Principal Secretary to Medical and Health and Director of Medical and Health are named as the respondents in the PIL.

PIL seeks to provide enough security to health workers

The Telangana HC will hear a PIL that seeks to provide adequate security to doctors, nurses and health workers from mental and physical harassment, on Wednesday. The PIL comes in the wake of incidents of doctors and supporting staff being subject to physical and mental harassment either in hospitals or during the course of door-to-door visits to test persons.

The PIL is based on a letter written by advocate PSS Kailash Nath and addressed to the Chief Justice. In his letter, the advocate states that such incidents of harassment will not only affect their morale but also their work efficiency. The Home Ministry had written to the State governments to take strict action in such incidents, but the Telangana government has not passed any orders till date for implementing the same.